Pace of Play Always Evaluated, But Rules Won't Change This Offseason

Pace-of-play issues are discussed by the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Rules Committee "every year," but any new rules to address the issue will not be implemented until the 2013 season because of a two-year rules cycle, which essentially locks in the rules for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

"The last thing you want to do is overreact or kind of make a snap decision," said Brian Voelker, chairman of the committee. "We're trying to do what's best for the game. But you really need to sit down and think about it. I think that was the idea of the two-year rule book."

Maryland fans were booing Virginia late in the game in M&T Bank Stadium — a game broadcast on ESPN — when the Cavaliers limited attacking the net to protect a lead.

“We discuss pace of play all the time,” Voelker said. “Every year I've been on the committee we spend a lot of time on pace of play.”

“My own personal opinion is the game is pretty good, but we're always looking to improve. Obviously when the biggest games on TV have lower scores and people are holding the ball a little bit, it drives people a little crazy,” he said.

Implementing a shot clock has been discussed the most among lacrosse fans and pundits. Voelker, who as a former coach of the Baltimore Bayhawks is familiar with the shot clock, said he is personally “neutral” on it, but he warns that it could have the opposite effect on the game.

“The one thing I've learned on rules committee is that you change one little thing in the rule book and there's this ripple effect that goes through the whole thing,” he said.

One adverse effect of a shot clock, he said, is that defenses might pack into a zone and actually cause lower-scoring games.

“I do think if we're not careful and we just put a shot clock in, it may bog things down more than it speeds it up,” he said. “There's a lot of things you can do to try to dictate to pace of play. But coaches will do what they have to do to win. I'm not sure there's any rule that we can put in, even a shot clock, that will make teams score goals.”

His term as the chair ends September of this year. The annual meeting held late this summer will be “a little more philosophical.” Any new rules up for future consideration will be largely influenced by a survey the committee will send out this summer that will discuss the pace of play, the shot clock and other issues related to the game.

A similar survey was sent out before last year's rules meeting, and Voelker said the results of the survey and response to the rules implemented — most notably changes to face-offs and the 30-second count — have been positive.

Any new rules will not be decided and implemented until the following year, and those rules would be locked in for two years after that.

Voelker and UMBC coach Don Zimmerman, who is secretary-rules editor on the committee, agree that specialization has led to a much different game.

“I think the specialization that we're seeing in our game is a cause for slowing down the pace,” Zimmerman said. “You have offensive and D-middies, FOGOs and longsticks on the wing. To get these players on and off the field takes time, even though the clocks running.”

“When I was a player and they called your midfield up to the box — mostly done by horn — you looked across the penalty box and you knew for that segment of the game it was your midfield against their midfield,” he said.

“There's good stuff and bad stuff that comes with all of that (substitution). I think we probably play more kids because we have specialists. You get more kinds of guys into the game,” Voelker said.

And Voelker knows that with the amount of good coaching in the league, there will be no magic solution to speed up the game.

“No matter what we do, coaches are going to find a way to slow things down if they think that's the way to win. This game for all the positives of being on TV and college putting more resources into lacrosse programs, you get some negatives out of that.” he said. “Coaches feel like they've got to win and got to win now. If coaches think they can win by running up and down and scoring 100 goals they will, if they think they can win 1-0 they will.”

Scott Nelson, who this offseason was named head coach at Binghamton, went as far to say the game is “overcoached,” pointing to improvements in team defense and sliding that have slowed the game down. Much of that, is the result of the professionalization of coaching in Division I lacrosse.

“When I played 100 years ago, it used to be beat your man and you score,” he said.

Nelson, who was previously on the rules committee, is on the fence when it comes to a shot clock, but said that pace of play is “something that obviously needs to be looked at.”

“I think the game is a good game. But there's always room for improvement,” said Zimmerman, echoing Voelker. “You can't sit on your hands. You've gotta always evaluate and re-evaluate. And that's the job of the committee.”